NASHVILLE — Quarterback Cam Ward’s time with the Tennessee Titans has a pretty obvious expiration date, and it becomes clearer every time this football team loses. Five weeks into his second season, the 2025 No. 1 overall pick is winless, and Tennessee is once again on pace for the top pick in the NFL Draft.

That is the reality Ward is facing, and it is not entirely his fault.

The Titans are at rock bottom, and Cam Ward is stuck in the middle of it

The No. 1 overall pick goes to the worst team in football the season prior. That’s the cruel part of the deal. Quarterbacks drafted at the top of the order usually land with teams that are bad for a reason, and those teams tend to stay bad.

The best organizations in football don’t bottom out. The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t owned a top-10 pick since taking Devin Bush in 2019. Instead, Pittsburgh has picked in the 20s year after year because it consistently wins.

Tennessee is the opposite. It has never been worse to be a fan, a player, or a coach for this organization. With 12 games left in the regular season, the Titans would hold the 1st pick again if the draft began today, two years removed from the last time they held it.

They are that awful.

Ward has to meaningfully improve by season’s end. Keeping him on the field and refusing to bench him is the correct football decision. However, I’m not convinced this organization cares as much about the product on the field as it does about selling tickets ahead of the new Nissan Stadium opening in February of 2027.

Right now, the only real selling point is defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons. He may be the best interior defensive lineman in football, but that’s not how you sell tickets. You sell tickets with quarterback play, touchdowns, and winning. In the absence of all three, fans need hope, and the Titans have squandered nearly every reason to have any.

Cam Ward’s numbers tell an ugly story

Tennessee passed on a trade offer from the New York Giants to keep the top pick and draft Ward. So far, the return has been dismal.

Ward has never won a divisional game. He has three career wins, and none of them have come this season. He had one more win at this point last year as a rookie than he does in Year 2.

Through five games, Ward is completing 63.2% of his passes for 896 yards and 5.0 yards per attempt. He has three touchdown passes, three interceptions, and two rushing touchdowns. For his career, he has 18 passing touchdowns and 10 interceptions. As a starter, he is 3-19.

Quarterback wins aren’t a perfect measure of success. Still, Ward is being judged heavily by the losing, and he should be. He is in a football hell not of his own making, but he hasn’t been good enough to overcome it.

The postgame question was fair, and Ward handled it well

After Sunday’s loss, a reporter asked Ward whether he was getting used to losing. The question drew criticism from some corners of the Nashville media. I’ll admit my own biases as someone in those press conferences every week, but I didn’t think it was unfounded. Ward has been the losing quarterback in 19 of his 22 starts. Asking if he’s becoming accustomed to it isn’t an attack on his character.

“I’m not a loser,” said Ward. “The record may say that we are that right now, but at the end of the day you got to go through some stuff to try to get wins. I mean, we attack this each and every day, but I mean, for, for that, no. If you’re able to look at everybody in our locker room’s track record, we’ve all won games at a high level. We are looking forward to doing that in the long run.”

He handled it professionally. Ward’s unbothered nature was viewed as a strength when he arrived, but questions about it grow louder when fans can’t visibly see how much the losing eats at him. He has slammed a couple of tablets on the sideline, which to my understanding drew a reprimand from the league.

The Titans should not draft a quarterback 1st overall again

Ward’s obvious expiration date is the end of this season. If Tennessee lands the 1st pick again, which looks likely, taking another quarterback would be the worst possible move for this organization.

I think the Titans should trade it. Moving back to No. 2 with a quarterback-needy team and landing receiver Jeremiah Smith in the package makes far more sense. Tennessee needs a quarterback badly, but a serviceable one can be found on the free-agent market while the roster gets built up. Nobody becomes the Seattle Seahawks overnight with one Sam Darnold deal, but that route gives the Titans a better chance than another rookie quarterback.

On a personal note, I hate it for Ward. Being critical of his performance doesn’t mean I dislike him. The Titans are rife with dysfunction, and too many good people who could succeed in the NFL come through this building only to get chewed up and spit out.

Ward will probably find success somewhere. It just likely won’t be in Tennessee.